Linux Dealt a rest BLOW by Apple !!!!!!! 2453

You are both ascribing to Linux the characteristics of Usenet. What you describe is no more or less true of virtually *any* topic commonly discussed on Usenet, it has *nothing* to do with Linux, the development of Linux, or the popularity of Linux.

Not quite true. A reboot, for example, only takes care of problems that *can* be corrected. It does not correct the fundamental faults of using a poorly designed system that targets "the braindead". It stops the viruses that have infested the machine, for example, only for the time that it is down. It doesn't get rid of them and it doesn't prevent more from being acquired. It won't add functionality to the OS, and won't allow users to accomplish more.

Thank goodness that there *are* other OS's, such as Linux, which are *not* like that. And note that the only reason to reboot Linux is to upgrade to a new kernel.

An excellent point; and you are correct that many people start with Windows and then expect everything else to act the same way. But, anything that does is of course *not* an improvement...

Mistake one: why would anyone want to use zip for backups? It was not designed for that purpose, and exists only to move files between Windows, Unix and several other systems. (Note that his has nothing at all to do with Linux.)

Linux *can* do that, and very easily too.

You *still* have a Windows mindset! :-)

The problem is only that you didn't read the man page for zip (or get a good tutorial and learn about more suitable backup programs), and you just aren't yet familiar with the Unix way of doing things.

Clearly you can be in one directory, archive files in a second directory , and put the resulting archive in a third directory.

Lets say you are in your home dirctory,home-Me, and want to generate a zip archive named Home.zip and place it intmp. You want to archive all of the files inhome-Me-LettersToMom. Here is a command that will do exactly that:

home-Me: $ (cdtmp && zip -r Home.ziphome-Me-LettersToMom-*)

You might also consider using the -j option to zip.

The point is that Linux can do it, *because* there is no need whatever to have that functionality included in the zip program itself. You can read the man page for bash to find out more about what the syntax (cmd1 && cmd2) does, but basically it executes a subshell which runs cmd1 and then tests the returned status to determine if it should then also run cmd2.

And thank your lucky stars that Unix paths are not the same as in Windows!

The bundled documentation is *fabulous*. Do you read the Linux HOWTO documents? Do you use the FSF'sinfosystem?

Regardless of that there are also, as you note, online and printed documentation.

Complaining that Linux information is not available is a whine that indicates a serious deficiency in the whiner. Generally on Usenet it is a clue-by-four that you are listening to a troll. In other places it might well be nothing more than an indication that someone is simply in need of a few pointers to set them on their way.

The fellow you are responding to is a troll. He makes up "problems" where they don't exist, just to try to tangle people up when they respond. Part of the trick is to make up a list of "facts", the first several of which are true and then include several that are not true. Typically, if worded right, the validity of the entire list is never questioned because the first several statements are commonly known truths; and therefore responses will mostly argue against invalid premises. All great fun and games for the Troll, but worthless as an excercise in learning about Linux or anything else.

He is *not* looking for help. Note also that this is crossposted to comp.os.linux.misc, which is where I'm reading-posting.

El Trollo Meter barely moved, but the El Idiot Meter pegged. He needs to do a lot better if he doesn't want to be laughed at.

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